5 million tonnes of newsprint paper produced at Langerbrugge mill

Ingress

On 5 April 2017, at 12:30 CET, less than 14 years after the start-up of the newsprint paper machine at Stora Enso Langerbrugge, the mill reached a milestone of 5 million tonnes of newsprint produced. The Giant of Ghent in Belgium is one of the most efficient newsprint machines in the world.

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Langerbrugge is celebrating a true jubilee this year. The mill was founded in 1932 under the name “Papeterie de la Belgique” and it celebrates 85 years of operations this year. In addition to the 5 million milestone at PM4, the SC Paper Machine PM3 recently celebrated its 60th birthday.

The paper mill in Langerbrugge, Gent, produces 540,000 tonnes of recycled newsprint and SC magazine paper annually, on two paper machines. Langerbrugge production is exclusively based on PfR, Paper for Recycling. This used paper is collected from households and reaches the paper mill through municipalities. In the state of the art paper sorting lines, old paper is automatically separated from carton. The paper fraction is fully deployed as raw material for the two paper machines in Stora Enso Langerbrugge. The remaining carton is sold to the nearby cardboard industry.

Langerbrugge paper mill is a forerunner in sustainability and puts a lot of focus on the production of green energy. The mill has two biomass-fueled power plants that provide all the needed process heat and more than 70% of the total electricity need. Since autumn 2016, the mill has also delivered part of its green heat to Volvo Car Ghent. Thanks to this, the Volvo plant in Ghent can eliminate 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, which means a 40% drop in their total CO2 emission. In 2017, the mill will take the next step in renewable energy by building three wind turbines that will be producing electricity by the beginning of 2018.

The business model of the paper mill is a prime example of circular economy. In the last decade, Stora Enso Langerbrugge reduced its energy consumption in production with 14% by efficiency improvements on several installations. “Sustainable production and a maximal use of new technology are central in this process. Digitalization, automatization and increased production call for a big effort from our employees – a smart factory needs smart workers.” Mill Manager Chris De Hollander emphasizes.

In 2016, Stora Enso Paper Division had a production capacity of 5.5 million tonnes of paper, which makes Stora Enso the second biggest player in the European paper business.